People enter our lives and teach us lessons, help us grow, and offer little reminders to appreciate everything we have in this world. One of my guests offered exactly that. His three-week stay at my home offered a chance to learn about his life. He had traveled quite the difficult path and how through this treacherous journey he had perservered.
It was wonderful to get a good guest story – especially a guest that offered a lesson in gratitude.
Keyless entry allows guests to enter your home with flexibility
I received a reservation via instant book. All my reservations require a government issued ID and photograph to be on file as spoken about in Step 3. A lock keypad installed on the front door allows access at the guest’s convenience.
On weekends, it is not uncommon for guests to check-in when I am not home. Frequently, I meet them sometime throughout the rest of the weekend.
One Saturday morning, I entered my kitchen and found a random man standing there. This was not too strange considering that 2 different reservations had checked-in the evening before. I had not been home so I had not met any of these new guests.
When guests register, the host only receives the name and profile photo for one guest. Regardless of how many people are booked for their reservation, hosts only receive the booking guest’s information.
This person standing in my kitchen greeted me by name, but did not look familiar at all. This threw me simply because if he knew my name chances were that he was the person on the reservation. It’s quite common for only the person whose name is on the reservation to know your name.
The other guests within the same room do not typically take the time to learn your name before meeting you; at least this has been my experience. After checked-in, the rest of the party typically learns your name.
When you don’t recognize your guest
Besides not recognizing the person in my kitchen, there were quite a few things that were different about this individual. One characteristic that stood out was that one of his eyes appeared to be fake. The face also seemed oddly reconstructed and scars were present at the clavicle. Whatever had happened to this person looked extremely painful.
I returned to my room to review the profile on the Airbnb platform. I tried to make some connection between the person I encountered in my kitchen and the person on the profile picture. There was simply no way to tell if this could be the same individual.
The first couple of days passed by and we would cross paths in the kitchen or in the living room and exchange pleasant niceties, but that was basically it. When he was up in his room or even sometimes merely walking up the staircase he would often talk to himself and make strange noises.
I am not the quietest person myself, so I didn’t take this to be too crazy and just figured he was just maybe a quirky individual – but still, a good guest story.
Getting to know your Airbnb guest
After a few days passed, he became more comfortable in his surroundings. He kept many random items in the kitchen and he felt it necessary to explain why he had so many different types of foods and supplements. Much of his diet centered on various sources of protein. He explained that he consumed all of these food compounds to enhance his brain activity.
I took everything at face value for the more sociable this guy became, the more quirky noises he made while he was upstairs in his room. This was truly one unique individual and yes, a good guest story.
As his stay advanced, I became more curious about the origins of this person’s ailments. After about a week in the home, he confirmed the status of the fake eye. I also learned that the painful cut at the base of the neck was in fact the result of a tracheotomy.
I knew that his injuries had to be painful, but I would have never guessed they were this completely severe. I’d mentioned earlier how his face didn’t quite line up and it looked like it had been reconstructed. Well that’s exactly what had happened.
My guest’s accident exposed
My guest informed me that he had been in a severe motorcycle accident.
I had imagined the injuries to be the result of a car crash or maybe a war incident. I had never expected him to say motorcycle accident simply because I had never seen anyone live through something this intense on 2-wheels.
My guest’s injuries
His accident was so bad that when his head slid across the pavement, it completely took off his frontal lobe. Yes, his frontal lobe of his brain completely severed from the rest of his head. Through many painful surgeries, the doctors reconstructed the upper part of his skull. Language and motor skills had to be relearned. In addition, hormone supplements were now a regular part of his daily life.
As one can imagine, the loss of the original brain material caused many changes to its natural functions.
The massive impact he sustained against the pavement also caused him to lose one of his eyes as well as his nose. To reconstruct his face, they formed his new nose out of flesh from one of his ears. He also lost his whole lower jaw and some of his upper so a complete face reconstruction was completed to allow for food consumption in the regular way. These were just the facial injuries!
The guest’s gift of gratitude
Even with all of these physical and mental injuries (considering hormone replacement was now needed for the rest of his life) my guest expressed gratitude towards everything he had been through. He truly felt grateful to be able to walk and talk and still exist on this planet.
A 4-year hospital stay occurred before being released with an additional 2 years before his first steps. Given the exact same scenario, many others would not have made it through such a life threatening ordeal. My guest truly had a zest for life that allowed him to triumph through such long dark times.
I felt very privileged to have hosted this man. He was so open in expressing his feelings and experiences about his past. Anyone looking at him must wonder what has happened to him for his injuries are too extensive to camouflage into the crowd. Thankful to be let in on his backstory and to get to know him – the person.
Many people would have been put off by his appearance. This was a great reminder to not judge a book by its cover and that every person has their own story that is worth hearing. After all, this was a good guest story. We all have gifts and experiences to contribute to this world.
Appreciate each day
Additionally, chance meetings such as this serve as fantastic reminders for us all to be thankful for every day we are alive. Life is short and for some of us much shorter than others. You never know when your last day or your last day as you know it could be up. Furthermore, not everyone has full use of all physical extremities, but if you do it truly is a gift.
It’s important to remember that no matter what we are encountering in our lives there is always someone who has had a more difficult path that has persevered. We must all be thankful for what we’ve got. I felt privileged to have met such an individual – what a good guest story!
Should you wish to increase your gratitude and appreciate your life in a more meaningful manner you may wish to try out this priming exercise. In this video, you go through exercises reminding you of the beauty of life and more importantly, the beauty that has been held within your own life. Here is a link if you would like to try.